In a small village by Life River, a man refuses to accept his people’s beliefs of gods in the sky. He denies the fact that he, too, will die one day. He builds his own faith, one that births from rumours. This belief follows whispers of a forgotten civilization in the lost sand dunes to the east who unlocked immortality from their tyrannic ruler.

Promises in Sand is June’s short story following one man’s attempt at everlasting life. Will he achieve his deepest desire? Or will the fear of death overcome him? Enjoy the story in written form, the artwork, and audio through the podcast with improv music.

Promises in Sand

Humans aren’t meant to live forever. Our bodies deteriorate long before our minds do. Over enough time, our minds begin to slip before we are even aware. We strive to justify our death. Religious texts speak of gods, philosophers ramble, and many talks of an afterlife—all have been discussed in immense detail by all civilizations.

We, humans, have drastically grown since our tribal days. Dying is so vicious. I refuse to believe that we were meant to have our vast intellect for a short amount of time in this world. I refuse. Hence, the belief remained strong that I could achieve immortality. I had faith that I could defy the pathetic acceptance of death. There is no afterlife superior to the world we live in. If there were, why would we be here for such a short time?

My search was held on by faith. I suppose you could say that makes me religious myself in the sense that I believed that there was a method to reach immortality, beating death. I believed that the stories passed down for generations foretold the truth. Too often, words from a distant time are only fables that explain the unexplainable, like what alchemists achieve. Gods and mythology are ways of us trying to understand the world around us, at least until the sciences stepped in to fill the vast holes left by religion.

My search for everlasting life began when I first heard the stories many years ago. These rumours spread from village to village over Life River. My elders spoke of a lost civilization that used to rule the deserts of the east. The people worshiped a living god, one who granted eternal life to their loyal followers. No one alive had ever seen this civilization. The rumours didn’t come from my village. We heard it from another village, and that village said they heard them from another village who had first heard the story from travellers – further distorting fact from fantasy.

Still, this story failed to leave me as I grew into a young man. My father wished me to marry the neighbouring village chief’s daughter to establish a strong bond. I was hesitant, as my mind was fixated on these rumours. I wanted to learn more about them. Why? I’ve asked myself the same questions for years. The fascination with beating death began with the passing of my mother. It was further amplified after my sister left this world. Both kissed death due to Life River’s six-year drought.

My father told me to keep our faith strong. He said that the gods would keep us together if we believed in them. The years went on. I didn’t see any reason to believe in these beings who lived beyond the sky. Maybe that is why I care about immortality, or maybe I fear my own death. We do not know what lies beyond here; there may be nothing at all. With that uncertainty, I choose to be the master of my own faith. Why should I worship these supposed gods who punish us with droughts and death?

I wanted to believe in something better for us. This is where my search began. These rumours had to have truth to them. I left my father in anger and hate – he said I had betrayed our family – and I travelled down the river by canoe. As an only child, I’m sure my father was devastated. I pushed onward, and my journey took me to the other villages to learn their knowledge about the rumours. One village after the other, they each explained slight variations of the story.

One group of people said the civilization is still alive and well, hiding in the mirages of sand in the eastern deserts. Others told me that these people are long gone, buried below the dunes. One consistency they had regarded their leader, a queen. She showed no mercy to those who didn’t kneel. Apparently, she held the key to immortality with a single kiss. Some said the queen was still alive and resided amongst people after her civilization’s collapse. They said that she was determined to regain her throne. I kept note of every story variation in my journal, hoping to piece together one truth.

A particular villager made a haunting statement. He said, “if you seek immortality from this queen, she will devour your life and curse your soul.”

I took note of that unsettling message too.

The last village led me to someone new. An old woman was living far from the other villages south of Life River, beyond the jungle coast and near the deserts of the east, just by the rocky plateaus. I hoped she could provide answers rather than more altered fables. My water supply was running low, and I had little food. On occasion, I found a lizard or a snake that I could catch and cook. Through days of travel, I located the old woman’s hut atop the highest plateau. My feet were sore, and the skin exposed to the sun was burnt.

The old, hunched lady sat on a wicker chair outside her hut by a fire as the sun set. She smoked a pipe and could manage a fire well despite having a cloth cover her eyes. It was safe to say she was blind. I wonder if she was expecting me through attuned senses because she smiled and said she was glad to see me. The woman offered me water and warm soup, replenishing my strength. I explained to her why I was there. She cut my explanation short.

“You wish to leap past the limitations of man,” she said, stroking her metal bat amulet. Her voice was raspy and cold. She didn’t blink as the wind picked up.

“Yes, I want to surpass mortality,” I said.

The old woman said that the limitations of man were achieved by one civilization out to the east. The army was once the dominant force in the lower region of the world, controlling all of Life River. They ruled for thousands of years under a single queen known as Queen Valturus. She was merciless to all who refused her kiss of immortality.

The loyal army obeyed every command she made in exchange for their eternal life. Her piercing green eyes were enough to pull in the most willful men. Add the gift of immortality as a bonus to her charm, and men would commit notorious acts for her. Pillaging. Murder. Torture. There were no depths too far for them to descend in the name of their queen.

The army was feared by all men of the known world. No kingdom attempted to defeat them. They could only pray to their own gods that Queen Valturus wouldn’t come for them. She was the best proof of a living goddess, unlike these other religions. She defied time and never aged for her thousands of years ruling.

I asked the old lady what happened to Queen Valturus and her army.

“Her army was washed away by the sands of time.” The old lady said to me.

I didn’t buy it. “How could one be immortal and be washed away from the sands of time?”

“Look for yourself,” the old lady said. “Find the civilization out in the east over seventeen great dunes from this plateau. The remains of her achievements will be found.”

“There’s evidence of their collapse?” At the time, I was beginning to doubt the power of this civilization and Queen Valturus.

She smiled. “Immortality doesn’t make you all seeing of betrayal from within.”

“Of course. May I stay the night?” I asked, hoping to avoid the winds and cool desert night.

“You may, only if you provide one favour for me when you reach the Queen Valturus’s fallen empire.”

“And what is that?”

“Her temple resides in the center of the kingdom, where you’ll find her throne. The queen has a red amulet resting on her necklace.”

“And you need this amulet?”

“It is the key to immortality,” she said. “The amulet is made of pure blood through centuries of draining her own. You must obtain it for me so I can consume it and restore my youth. Bring me the amulet, and I will bless you with life.”

I thought about her request and nodded in agreement before internally committing. Yes, I should honour my word, even if I didn’t fully believe it. Deep down, I knew I had no reason to believe this woman.

She spoke, “if you don’t, you will die of the poison within your soup.”

My heart stopped, stomach tightening from her words. The old lady must have known the internal struggle I was experiencing. Or she knew I would be gullible enough to eat. I was a young fool and too trusting from my life in a secluded village.

“You’re lying,” I told her.

“You can wait four days and find out for yourself what scorpion poison can do to a body. Or bring me the amulet.”

Then, I realized my desire for immortality rested in fear of death and not in the loss of my mother or sister. I didn’t want to challenge her bluff. “We’ll share the amulet?” I asked.

“I promise you, I will uphold my end of the deal for immortality,” she said with an expressionless face.

I wanted to kill her right there. Unfortunately, she had hidden the remedy to the scorpion poison, and I had to listen to her. We had a forced deal. I stayed with the old lady that night, waiting for the cool winds to pass by in the morning. My dagger was close to my chest, and I was ready to use it if she tried to do anything suspicious. I couldn’t trust her at all and questioned her deal.

Nothing occurred during the night, and I left early in the morning. The old lady wasn’t in the hut or anywhere near her home when I woke. Without hesitation, I left, wasting no time to get to the ancient civilization. I climbed down the plateau and walked over the first sand dune—sixteen to go.

The travel was long, tiring, but I was determined to carry it through to reach immortality. I was unwilling to bend to the fact that I was mortal, even with the scorpion poison in my veins and counting my days. The limitations of my human form weren’t going to take me away. The shier will I had alone kept one foot in front of me, going up and down the hills.

With all my water gone, I lost count of the hills. Was I on hill eight or hill fifteen? I was lost, but I kept walking for any sort of clue to this lost civilization. I had taken rest under one of the sand dunes to avoid the scorching sun during peak hours and travelled most at dusk.

The following dawn, I continued my travel. Hungry, thirsty, but unbendable. Eventually, the body refused my will, and I collapsed, rolling down to the other side of a hill until my head hit something sharp, stopping me. My face was covered in sand and blood. To my joy, it was a limestone rock that I had hit.

The stone had carvings in it from a language I could not identify. This had to be the civilization, for there was nothing around for miles other than this square block.  With frantic excitement, I dug around the limestone. Through several scoops of my hand, I moved aside enough to trigger some opening because the sand began to fall into darkness.

I stepped aside as the hidden door slid away, revealing a staircase into the unknown. I entered the hall leading underground. I had no torches and relied on the light from the entrance to lead me to the end. The path was long. I was in pure darkness, hoping I wouldn’t trigger a trap or fall. A dim light appeared, leading to a large underground opening where beams of light shot through cracks in the rocky ceiling. This was Queen Valturus’s lost civilization, hidden below the sands of time.

Her triangular temple was easy to spot in the circular enclosure. I was not tempted by the mounds of gold, silver, and gems found at every corner of the roads. Skeletons scattered the sandy streets. The skin and bone on their necks all had puncture holes in the same spots. There wasn’t an explanation for why they all had the exact same wound. Maybe it was related to their deaths.

There was no sound other than my own feet echoing against the empty roads. The limestone buildings were left perfectly intact with paint, windows, doors, and hinges, lightly coated in sand and dirt—the kingdom, in its own right, as a form of immortality.

The temple’s entrance was atop a long and wide staircase. Covered in sweat, I reached the top and entered the building. My first step on the entrance’s stone floor trigged the ignition of torches. They burst to life two at a time, one on each side, leading straight to the end. I drew my dagger for safety and cautiously moved into the hall, hoping I wouldn’t trigger a more deadly button. At the far end of the temple’s black interior was the blood-red throne where the corpse of Queen Valturus rested. The throne itself had to be as tall as two men. The marble had perfectly linear carved lines, painted bright red, on and all around it, all leading right to the back of Queen Valturus’s heart. It was an impressive sculpting achievement.

There weren’t any booby-traps, and I couldn’t see any signs of other people. I continued down the hall, reaching Queen Valturus’s throne. The once living god was a still corpse. I wondered how she died, who betrayed her, and if her blood truly offered immortality. The corpse was peaceful, sitting on the blood-red marble. She was far smaller than I had thought. Her hands gripped the armrests, head leaned against the smooth back, mouth dangling open.

Her hair was still attached to the scalp in a tattered mess, and the skin was pressed tightly against the skeleton as no meat remained. The red amulet rested on her gold and red breastplate. I carefully stepped forward and reached for the amulet. As my hands got closer, I could sense a radiating power coming from the item. Then, I knew it had the power of immortality. I had never felt such a force come from something so small.

My fingers glided against the smooth stone. Carefully I lifted it and the chain over Queen Valturus’s neck. Her body was stiff, but the chain moved with ease over her head. It was almost too easy. There was no grand climax or foe I had to fight. The blood amulet was mine.

After a night’s rest, I returned to the surface through the entrance, leaving the civilization behind. There wasn’t much to the civilization, and I wish there were more answers. The old lady said there would be proof there. Perhaps time indeed did wash away the civilization under the sand dunes.

This was now the third day, and my time was limited to beat the inevitable poison. The travel back was equally tiring, if not more, but I had to return to the woman. In the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but wonder how obtaining the amulet was so easy and why the old woman didn’t do it herself. Perhaps she couldn’t handle the great travel. She was blind, after all.

Each step I took was more demanding than the last. It was as if this amulet had some sort of power over me. I resisted and marched on, pushing against this invisible force that rested in my poncho’s pocket. I had to reach the old woman and get the remedy, hopefully, the key to immortality itself. Maybe it wasn’t just the amulet, but the scorpion’s poison was finally taking effect on me. I couldn’t waste time to find out.

I reached the old woman’s home near the end of the fourth day. She sat in her wicker chair outside her hut by the fire as I found her before with the setting sun, creating a sense of déjà vu. She smiled at me as I approached. Again, she had to have an attuned sixth sense, for how would she know it was me?

“Did you find answers to the civilization’s collapse?” the old lady said.

“No, but I got the amulet. Give me the remedy.”

“You didn’t look hard enough,” the old lady said. “You’re too eager.” She extended her hand, saying nothing more, expecting me to hand the amulet over.

“Not until you show me the remedy,” I said.

The old woman lifted a glass vail from her poncho containing a green liquid claimed to be the remedy. “Now, give it to me.”

I extended the amulet to her, feeling it resist with excessive might. I ignored it as best as I could and placed the gem in the palm of her hand. The powerful force made one last pulse, rippling through both our bodies and pushing the rocks around us. The amulet glimmered.

“Well done,” the woman said, handing me the vail.

I snagged it and pulled the cork off, tilting it upside down to let the liquid pour into my mouth. The remedy had a bitter sting, but I forced it down, preying it would rid me of the scorpion’s poison. I exhaled after the last drop.

The old woman clutched the blood amulet tightly with her hand, causing the exterior to shatter. I took a step back in shock, watching as fresh blood oozed out of the broken gem. I fully expected it to be hardened if it was made of old blood. She raised her hand and poured the blood into her mouth. It drizzled into her throat, over her lips, neck, and down her wrists.

“Share some!” I shouted, reaching for her hand.

The old woman swatted my hand away with her free arm, throwing me back from her unnatural strength. She hissed while pulling off her blindfold, revealing emerald eyes. Her skin lifted up, tightening, as her wrinkles faded. Her hair glistened and gained newfound volume as she sat upright from her previously hunched state.

Her green eyes locked onto me as blood dripped down her chin. She stood from the wicker chair, throwing off her old ratty poncho, arms extended wide as she embraced her newfound youth. The muscles of her form shined in the setting sun while the surface of her body rose smoke ever so slightly until the sun vanished, leaving us under the night.

It wasn’t like anything I had seen before. This was real magic, not some presumed power of gods living above us, casting droughts. I knew then that I was staring at Queen Valturus, a living goddess.

“Queen Valturus,” I said.

“Sweet, sweet boy. You’ve been so loyal, giving me back my strength.”

“But, you were at the temple. I saw you.”

“So naïve as you were with the soup. That was never me, but only the betrayer who collapsed my civilization.”

“Betrayer?”

“I saved my own skin, exiled to here for far too long, withering away until you saved me.”

“What are you?” I asked.

“There are many names I’ve gone by, none of which are the label human. The undying. The eternal. Goddess is the name I prefer.”

The living goddess was real. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and stared into her eyes.

“You have proven yourself, boy. Let me reward you as promised,” she said, taking a step towards me in a slow, confident stride.

“You’ll grant me immortality?” I asked, stepping back.

“Of course. Through only a kiss . . .” Queen Valturus said, placing her hand gently over my jaw before I could back away. She had me locked into her green irises. I couldn’t look away. I tried. Over and over. I couldn’t. She had me under some spell with that gaze. I wanted to live forever, and she was willing to offer it to me through a kiss. How terrible could it be? Yet, I felt nothing but fear.

“Please,” I managed to say. My tone was dull as drool seeped from my lips. I fell to my knees as she stopped mere inches from my face. Her eyes did not leave mine. They’re . . . a green that encompasses all of nature found within Life River. She was life. She was immortality.

Queen Valturus held my head up with her index finger and leaned down. I extended my head to her, ready to kiss the beautiful being. Her mouth opened, and her canine teeth extended into fangs. The emerald eyes widened as she grazed past my lips and swooped down to my neck, biting it with immense force.

I tried to pull away . . . but . . . her strength! It was overpowering as she sunk her teeth into my flesh, the jaws locking me in place. I felt dizzy. My limbs weakened . . . I surrendered to her as my skin turned pale. Blood left, leaving my system. Victim to her control, I hung lifelessly until she freed my body, and I fell into the sand.

“You’ll rise at midnight, my child,” Queen Valturus said, licking the red liquid from her chin. “Your newfound immortality comes at a price. This gift will make you like me – forever living. Unlike me, you cannot pass this gift on. That is mine alone.” She brushed the hair from my face as the warm blood seeped from my open wound and onto the rocks.

She stroked the bat amulet that dangled from her neck. “Fear is natural. Step past it, for your human body, is dying now. You’ll emerge as a new form, a stronger, more resilient being.”

I sputtered and managed to speak. “What is this?” It wasn’t a clear statement. I certainly could have made the question more directly.

“I am your new god.”

“I . . . I . . . what?” I had many questions in my mind. Who betrayed Queen Valturus? How? What was I to become? What did she have planned? I couldn’t say any of it as the life seeped from my body.

I died that day. Fear overwhelmed me as I attempted to breathe. Eventually, nothing entered my lungs, and the remaining blood left my body. As Queen Valturus said, I was reborn that night into something new. Now, my senses are more attuned than I could have ever imagined. My strength is unmatched by any man. I feed off people who are fearful, killing them to maintain my own life force through their blood.

The humans in the European kingdoms refer to us as vampires. They deem us horrors who leech off the good beings of this world. Now that I am a vampire, I know this to be false. I need their blood to live, but I will never die. I am immortal as long as I stay clear of the sun. I can watch the centuries pass around us in darkness. If I do not feed, I will only wither into an old man, similar to Queen Valturus, and eventually, a corpse, like her loyal followers, lost below the sand. Only they aren’t dead; they’re conscious and resting. Her blood will reactivate their damaged states.

Queen Valturus doesn’t seem concerned about resurrecting her army. She has found a new appreciation for life after living in her old body. She wishes to live and experience rather than dominate and has left me to my own devices. This brings me to my previous thoughts about the mind withering. She lacks the fire she was said to have in the stories. She no longer wants to dominate like the fierce goddess the rumour words spoke of.

My initial concern of humanity’s limitations was correct. Humans are, unfortunately, stuck in their limited forms—even a vampire’s mind ages. We, or they, have amazing brains and frail bodies. For us to grow beyond, we have to accept the most frightening transformation through death. Queen Valturus can offer it to us if we are loyal to her.

I took the risk.

I believed, and I was right.

Now I pay the price . . . watching the world live and die. Live and die. Live . . . and die again.